Sumitomo and Strathmore for Roca Honda

27 July 2007

[Strathmore, 26 July; Bloomberg, 27 July] Japan's Sumitomo and Canada's Strathmore Minerals have completed a joint venture agreement to develop the Roca Honda uranium project in New Mexico, USA. Under the terms of the agreement, subsidiaries of Strathmore and Sumitomo will form a 60/40 joint venture, which is expected to be established in late August. Sumitomo will initially pay Strathmore a total of $1 million for entering the joint venture, the initial purpose of which is to conduct a feasibility study to develop and mine Roca Honda. The two companies will make a final decision on their participation in the project on completion of the feasibility study. The agreement calls for Strathmore and Sumitomo to enter into a sales and markerting agreement whereby Sumitomo will market uranium produced from the project. Sumitomo spokesman Hideyuki Terajim told Bloomberg that the feasibility study would look at production starting at Roca Honda in 2013, with full production reaching 800 to 1000 tonnes annually. Strathmore announced in February that it had granted a undisclosed company the exclusive right to negotiate a joint venture agreement to develop Rocoa Honda. Roca Honda is located in the Grant's Mineral Belt in New Mexico, which was the largest producing uranium district in the world during the last uranium cycle. The project has a measured and indicated mineral resource of 7945 tonnes U3O8 (6735 tU) contained within 3.8 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.23% U3O8.

Further information

Strathmore Minerals
Sumitomo

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